Inner-sole



NOV. 9, 1937. R M LEHNER 2,098,502

INNER soLE Filed Nov. 29, 1935 Patented Nov. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

The vpresent invention relates to a method of preparing a paperboard or the like for use as a strip out of which an inner-sole for a shoe may be cut andv also to the construction of the inner- 5 sole itself.

In the prior art inner-soles have been fashioned from leather or paper and from other such similar materials. The inner-soles fashioned from paper have either been made throughout of the same material or they have been made of different kinds of materials and fastened together in some known fashion. In one type of inner-sole there is used a flexible center portion at the edges of which are glued stiif end portions of substantially the same thickness. These end portions and the center portions may be spliced togethez1 and adhered to each other by cement, glue or some similar material. Such a process is somewhat expensive, since the center portion must not only be cut on a bevel for proper splicing but the edge portions must be similarly cut and held together in place while cementing. n

The present invention provides a strip or sheet out of which an inner-sole may be fashioned 225 without the necessity of the procedure described above and yet the sole may have a iiexible center portion and stiff edge portion which materially aid in the lasting of the shoe and the formation of a proper piece for the toe and heel support. In the present invention the inner-sole is made out of the same piece of material but the strip or sheet is put through a proper process which makes the central portion exible and the edge portion rigid. Inthe present invention the central portion may be made flexible and if desired an additional facing strip may be placed on the end portions extending higher than the surface of the central portion. In this case the bottom part of the inner-sole is composed uniformly of the same material but made more ilexible in the center part than near the ends on.'the other side of which the hard iiat strip or sheet may be placed. To this extent the inner-sole may also comprise a composite' sheet of different materials. In the present case the applicant pre' fers to use a paper sheet that is commonly known as cylinder board although other types of pressed paper as press board or fiber board may under suitable conditions be used. In the. present invention the sheet or strip out of which the innersole is made is finished in such a way that both end elements are stiff or hard so that in the cut-- ting out of the inner-sole no material will' be wasted, that is to say, the sole will face one way and then the other way so that the maximum material possible will be used. l

The present invention, will be more fully described in connection with the drawing, in whichz- 5 Figure 1 shows in 'fragmentary section, a view of the strip out of which the inner-sole is formed. Figure 2 shows a fragmentary plan view of a different strip from that shown in Figure 1 out of which the inner-sole may be formed. l0

Figure 3 shows a section takenon the line 3-3 of Figure 2,.

Figure 4 shows an inner-sole as cut out? of the strip of Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 5 shows a section taken on the line 5-5 l5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 shows a modified section in thesame position as taken for Figure 5, and,

Figure 7 shows diagrammatically the machine for making the center portion exible. 20

As indicated in Figures 2 and 3 the strip out of which the inner-sole may be cut is composed of a central flexible portion and stiifened end portions 2 and 3, or as indicated in Figure 1, the

central portion l may be a exible strip of the 25.

same material as the end portions 5 and 6. The end portions 5 and 6 however may be faced with a stiff piece of paper board as indicated by 'I and 8. These ends 1 and 8 may extend substantially from the base surface or they may be pressed 30 downward to be practically level with the surface of the inner portion.

` In Figure 4 there is indicated a different innersole which is fashioned out of the strips shown in Figures 2 and 3. In this case the end pieces 9 35 and I0 comprising the toe and heel respectively are the hardened portions, the central portion I I vbeing flexible. The whole inner-sole in Figure 4 is made .out of a single continuous piece of material and the ends hardened by dipping them 40 in a proper hardening bath, such for instance as shellac compound or a preparation of similar nature. The central portion is made flexible entirely by a mechanical process which is indicated in Figure 7. In this case there is provided a 45 group of circular cutters I2, I2, I2, etc., which may be mounted on a single shaft I3 and driven through the pulley Il from a proper power source. 'I'he cutters I2 provide substantial transverse `cuts in the central portion of the strip as indicated 50 in the drawing. Between the circular cutters are longitudinal cutters I5, I5, I5, which advance the strip i6 indicated in Figure '7 through the machine and at the same time provide the longitudinal markin or cuts as indicated more clear- 56 ly in Figures 2 and 4. The strip as indicated in Figure 7 is laid on a piece I1 and is automatically fed by means of the longitudinal cutters I5 through the machine, It is preferable to have one surface of the strip completed at a time.

When one surface has been completed it is turned.

over and the opposite surface is finished. As indicated in the figures in the drawing the transverse cuts effected by the cutters I2, I2, etc., are more or less surface cuts and do not extend for more than perhaps from one fifth to one tenth of the way through the inner-sole. In fact in an inner-sole of approximately th of an inch in thickness, the cut need only be from .005 to .008 of an inch deep. 'Ihe longitudinal cuts may be even less than the transverse ,cuts and in fact for the same thickness of inner-sole may be only .002 or .003 of an inch deep. The transverse cuts and also the longitudinal cuts are preferably spaced apart about :,ifnds of anvinch. and may as indicatedl in the drawing form substantially a square between. In this manner, the inner-sole when cut on both faces is made very flexible longitudinally or the length of the stripand sufiiciently flexible across the strip for eiective use in a shoe. This is also an advantage over the soles of the prior art in that it -is more flexible lengthwise than cross-wise and will therefore bend with the bending of the shoe in the direction that the greatest flexibility is demanded but will otherwise preserve its shape and tend therefore to maintain the shape of the shoe. The cuts on both sides may be substantially aligned with one another, but I prefer for greater flexibility to have them at least somewhat ofi alignment so that a uniform flexibility will be provided and n'o substantial weakening of the sole will be presentas might occur where the cuts on opposite sides align with one another and pierce a substantial part of the material. 'Ihe procesrs of making the inner portion flexible may take place after the inner-sole has been cut out, but ls preferably accomplished with the material in strip form as it is possible to run successive strips through the machine shown in Figure 7 by rapidly lining up each end edge with the next piece to follow through the inachine.

As indicated in Figure 6 the heel portion I8 may be made higher than the central portion Gf the inner-sole, and this may be of different material such as fiber or press board from the lower piece I9 which is made flexible in the process described.

The inner-sole described above may be used ,l in most any type of shoe and furnishes in par- I ticular a firm toe and heel portion thus helping in the fashioning on the last of these parts of the shoe. At the same time the central portionl of the inner-sole is flexible enough, particularly lengthwise of the shoe to allow the wearer perfeet ease in walking. As has been remarked above, the flexibility of the inner-sole is greater lengthwise than cross-Wise of the shoe and this also tends to allow the shoe to keep its proper form.

It will be appreciated of course that within the description given above, the inner-sole or the strip out of which the inner-sole is formed may be varied to some extent without substantially departing from the spirit of the invention herein described.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. An inner-sole made of a single piece of paper material, said material being stiffened by treatment at its heel and toe extremities and forming thereby stiff heel and toe portions and unstiiened center portions of the original paper material providing a flexible center section therebetween, said exible section having the surface thereof cut lengthwise and crosswise by parallel cuts spaced closely togetherand extending only for-a slight depth into the material' whereby said center section is more flexible than. the original paper and said extremities more rigid.

2. An inner-sole of the type described made of a single piece of paper material having stiffened toe and heel portions formed vby treatment of said toe and heel portions only and. a flexible untreated center portion extending therebetween, said flexible center portion having longitudinal and transverse cuts spaced approximately 35ndof an inchl apart and having a depth ofv from .002" to .008 deep, whereby said center portion is made more flexible than the original paper and said extremities more rigid.

3. An inner-sole of the type described made of a single piece of paper material vhaving a stiiened.

heel portion formed by treatment of said heel portion and a flexible untreated middle portion extending from the heel portion to the toe portion, said flexible center portion having longitudinal and transverse cuts spaced substantially the same distance apart and. extending only through the surface of the material, whereby said center portion is made more flexible than the original paper and the heel portion more rigid. 1

4. An inner-sole of the type described made of a single piece of paper material having a stiifened heel portion formed by treatment of said heel portion and a flexible untreated middle portion extending from the heel portion to the toe portion, said flexible portion having longitudinal and transverse cuts approximately 32nd of an inch apart and extending from .002" to .008" into the material, whereby said center portion is made more flexible than the original paper and the heel portion more rigid.

5. An inner-sole of the type described made of a single piece of paper material having a stiiened heel portion and a flexible center portion extending from the heel portion to the toe portion, said flexible portion having longitudinal and transverse cuts spaced about 115 apart, said transverse cuts being deeper than said longitudinal cuts. ROBERT M. LEHNER. 

